I’ve been thinking about character creation, which is obviously the most important part of any MMO. There are basically two options MMOs have with character creation: “You’re good at what you do most” or “pick a class”. The first option is the most interesting, because it gives players a LOT of room for creating their character as they see fit, but the second option is a lot more clean and functional, as well as easier to work with. Ideally, one would use the first system, but that requries a lot of balancing, etc.
I think I would probably choose the second option, though, for it’s cleanliness and functionality, as well as ease of use. When it comes to PvP, having predefined classes and unique silhouettes is good, so that players know what to expect from other players.
Obviously, I would want to cover the basics first. Don’t confuse players at the get-go… just ask simple questions, like: “do you want to hit things in the face or shoot fire balls?”
One would choose one of a few simplified classes that cover the basic archetypes, such as:
Warrior, Mage, Cleric and Ranger
These could even be simplified into: Warrior and Mage, because Cleric and Ranger are simply sub-types of Warrior, but to make it easier, Cleric and Ranger can have their own class.
From there a player would learn the basics of their class and what it implies. After they have learned that, they would then be able to choose two sub-classes for their character, which define them even further.
Warriors would be able to choose 2 of the following:
– Paladin for shield tps/hps [Tank/Healer]
– Berserker for spike tanking/dps [Melee DPS]
– Paragon for shield tps/support/dps [Tank/Support]
– Champion for 2h spike damage/dps [Best Melee DPS]
– Mageknight for ranged dps/support/dots [Best Ranged DPS/Support/Melee DPS]
Mages would be able to choose 2 of the following:
– Pyromancer [Best Ranged AoE DPS]
– Nightblade [Best Melee DPS]
– Hydromancer [Healer/CC]
– Warlock [Tank/DoTS]
– Astronomer [Support]
Clerics would be able to choose 2 of the following:
– Chaplain [Melee DPS/Group Healer]
– Librarian [Ranged DPS/Single Heals+Shields]
– Monk [Melee DPS/Tank]
– Psychopomp [Tank Healer/Ranged DPS]
– Witch Hunter [Ranged DPS/Support]
Ranger would be able to choose 2 of the following:
– Assassin [Melee Spike Damage/CC]
– Warden [Tank/Support]
– Marksman [Ranged DPS]
– Minstrel [Healer/Support]
– Engineer [Ranged DPS/Melee DPS/Support]
As discussed before, no skill or item or player would ever be better than another. We’re aiming for the game to be 95% skill, 5% RNG.
Weapons will be balanced to be funtionally the same, with different values, such as: swords deal medium damage with medium speed, daggers do less damage with more speed and deal bonus damage if you are behind your target, axes deal medium damage with low speed but cleave to nearby enemies, hammers deal heavy damage with low speed, bows have longer range but less damage than crossbows and guns have the least range but the highest damage. Heavy armor lowers your movement speed but has the most physical negation, chain is medium, leather is light but has less negation and cloth gives bonuses to using magic, while giving very little negation. No class would have restrictions on what they can wear, except that your Strength would determine how much you can carry and plate armor weighs a lot.
That brings us to stats. You don’t want to have too many, but you also want enough so that players need to make interesting choices about gear rather than just pour everything into ONE stat.
With that in mind, we’d use these stats:
Strength: Determines chance to block, damage dealt and hit rating with axes, hammers and swords. Also determines your chance to successfully intimidate someone.
Dexterity: Determines chance to evade, damage dealt and hit rating with daggers, bows, guns and crossbows. Also determines your chance to successfully trick someone.
Endurance: Determines health regeneration, maximum health and chance to parry.
Intelligence: Determines maximum mana, damage dealt and hit rating with elemental and arcane magic. Also determines your chance to successfully outsmart someone.
Wisdom: Determines mana regeneration, healing dealt and damage dealt with holy and nature magic. Also determines your chance to successfully convince someone.
This game would also focus a LOT on utility. Each class would have their own unique utility abilities that would help outside of combat. These skills give players a feeling of usefulness as well as immersion within the world.
Some examples would be: Rangers would be able to pick pocket enemies and pick locks.
Warriors would be able to construct campfires to give rested buffs to allies and give bonus regen
Clerics would be able to create Ankh’s which allow players to resurrect themselves
Mages would be able to create portals to major land marks and conjure healing and replenishing stones.
Also, on the topic of races and racial abilities: I like racial abilities that really make each race feel different. Yes, min-maxers WILL choose a certain race to make themselves better at a certain thing, but most people will just choose whichever race they like most. Racials should present interesting choices for players.
Humans would be an obvious choice and would probably have something to do with leadership, etc…
Also, when it comes to questing, instead of gaining experience, you either gain gold, reputation or badges of heroism. Badges of heroism can be used at class trainers to learn new spells to add to your arsenal. When you start your character, you gain enough spells to make a decent skill build.
Each player has somewhere between 8 – 12 skill slots as well as an elite slot and an ultimate slot. An elite spell is a special ability that is generally just better than your other skills, while your ultimate is usually a long cd big ass boom boom.
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Mananers 